Many people believe they could be more productive if they could remember everything they have read or seen and all the conversations they have had with others. These are the capabilities of a hypothetical person with a “photographic memory”.
If a person converses by email, this person has a searchable record of their conversations. This person can now search using the search features provides by their email software, or the search facilities provided by an outbound program, such as the popular Google Desktop Search or by a document or content management software.
Thus, a person has a proxy for a “photographic memory” for email conversations. All their email conversations are in one place and can be searched on demand, to “remember” any conversation, in a matter of a couple of seconds.
However, many conversations are by phone or in person and these are typically not recorded, and if recorded, are not searchable, and if searchable, are not searchable with the same search that searches email. Therefore, unlike a hypothetical person with a “photographic memory”, there is no centralized computerized repository for all conversations and everything seen or read, that can be searched with a single query.
Ideally, a person should be able to record and search, with one query, anything discussed in their phone calls and face-to-face conversations, as well as anything they have seen or read, including emails and text messages.
A salesman should be able to talk with a prospect on his cell phone and the call be recorded. With the present invention, the audio can be automatically sent to a server for speech recognition and then the audio and speech-recognized text and call date, time and calling party names sent to a searchable computer repository.
A professional should be able to use her cell phone as a recording device (without making a call while recording) to record the audio of a meeting and then take a picture of her handwritten notes and the whiteboard. With the present invention, the audio could be automatically sent to a server for speech recognition, and the audio and speech-recognized text sent to a searchable computer repository.
If a mobile phone user sees a traffic jam, or a hazard in the road, such as a stalled vehicle, or a driver driving the wrong way on the Interstate, the mobile phone user should be able to send a spoken message, with speech-recognized text and location data, to a community searchable database, from which others can be instantly warned of the hazard, via text message, voice message, email, warning icon on the GPS map in their car or on their phone, digital signs on the road, etc.
Therefore, what is needed in the art is an easy and unobtrusive way to record and search audio from phone calls and face-to-face conversations, as well as record and search things seen, such as a whiteboard with a schematic of a new product, or an article in a publication. These should be recorded to a centralized computerized database that can be searched with one query.
A Conversation may be defined as a conversation with one or multiple other people, or it can be a person dictating.